Off the Bike - Back Surgery

Eric, good luck on the surgery. Hope the down time goes by quickly. Better make sure your Netflix and Hulu accounts are current!

 

Just saw this. Best of luck with the surgery. Most of my friends are going through various levels of recovery right now and their best post-surgery advice (that has been given above) is don't push it too hard until the doc tells you that you can. Good time to catch up on some reading as well. Rick Atkinson's WW2 trilogy is a good way to kill two months. Healing vibes my friend!

 

190hp too low for turbo. All motor on pump gas? what class and organization you run with? what's your laptimes at Seca and the local tracks? Awesome job self-built!

Hope for the best!!!

 

Astute questions. the 190 number is on e85. This has a late model vvt motor with some mild head work and a decking of the block and head to increase compression. On pump gas it's around 160whp and then it starts detonating itself. Lap times are 2 minutes flat at BRP 13 CW, and around 2:03-2:05 at chuckwalla CW and 1:35ish at big willow, all of course when my grey matter can handle it.

This car was originally built for speedventures miata challenge, then it morphed in tte/ttd. Most recently it's built up for global time attack, but due to tire regulations in my class it's not competitive. Now that I'm not competing any more, I typically run with speedventures. I used to do quite a bit of instructing and running with nasa, but those days are over.

 

Hmmm... decades ago it seems, SV miata challenge was for free for all participants. Perhaps we've breathed the same fumes before.

 

Day 9 update. Surgery was a huge success. A significant chunk of strength came back in my right leg starting right when I came out of general anesthesia. The numbness and pins/needles feeling in my right foot is gone and the random muscle spasms have been curbed for the most part.

Honestly, I can't say how much of a relief the surgery results have been. The decision to have surgery was looming large in my mind leading up to going under. The morning of the surgery I was a mess and my mind was still screaming "Run" as i was wheeled into the operating room. I'm not trying to be dramatic... but I just kept thinking, what if I have this surgery and it just makes me worse?

At any rate. I checked into the hopsital at 5:45 AM and was under the knife @ 7:30AM and home by 2. I basically just came home and crashed out. The pain the next day was intense. Over the years I've become pretty immune to pain from dealing with this injury. I'm not a pain killer guy, that is, until the first 2 days. I was pretty concerned that something was wrong. My lumbar area was swollen with a knot the size of a baseball. I just hunkered down and munched on pain meds and go through it.

As of last Thursday night, I stopped taking the pain meds with any consistency. Other then the crushing constipation which sucks... I honestly felt they were making things worse by dulling the initial onset of pain twinges. I felt like that was masking my ability to feel what I should be doing and shouldn't. I woke up friday, took the worlds most epic dump and have been off the meds ever since

So yeah. I have my two week follow up next week and the docs say with my progress they should be able to clear me for PT. I've been walking 3-4 times a day since the surgery and the walks have moved up to 1-2 miles each. It's a little more boring then riding but it's a start.

 

Pics or it didn't happen. (the dump that is)

Freaking stoked for your results!

DON'T PUSH IT.

Heal up.

Let's ride when healed.

 

Great to hear it has turned out well.

Here's to continued success and that PT is a breeze.

I also found out the hard way about how pain killers affect the bowels. No one told me until after a few days....and that was rougher than the pain caused by the injury. I vowed never to take anything more than Ibuprofen....and that included after the surgery on my shoulder.

 

The discomfort from the constipation was honestly worse to deal with then the pain. It was something else, not to share TMI or anything but I knew this going in. I took a stool softener the day of my surgery and I was taking them 3 times a day. By the 2nd full day of no movement, I combined Ex-Lax with a stool softener. STILL NOTHING.

I honestly feared for my life and the plumbing in my house. It was so effin frustrating. So yeah, agreed. Aleeve is my go to when I know I'm not going to be drinking. If I'm going to be having a few beers the same day ibuprophen all the way.

Current pain killer stock is mostly made up of stone, sierra nevada and some barely forge. I'm going to end up with a little bit of a beer gut to work off at this rate. Oh well.

 

Awesome report, Erik! Good work getting on the PT and off the opiates. Congrats, and here's to a dirty future

PS: Maybe alternate a water with every beer, try 1/2 dose of ibu or whatever so you don't really need the analgesic effect of alky. I don't underestimate the benefit of comforts, but stay hydrated for bomber healing. Send it!!!!!!

 

good call on the water Mike. I was doing a good job of it the first few days after surgery but i I've since slackened off a bit.

 

Glad to hear the surgery went well!

 

Roger. I think it's more important for regularity than we give it credit for. Works like coffee for me.

 

Yep! I turn to water when I feel too full or bloated. I also drink some psyllium husk fiber (Metamucil) most days with a shot of raw apple cider vinegar in it. One of the biggest culprits of bloat and/or constipation is dehydration.

I should note*

*If you take a fiber supplement then time it a couple/few hours between any medications. Fiber supplements can have an affect on medications, don't take anything 2hrs before/after fiber intake.

 

So stoked for you Erik! It's a great feeling to exit surgery knowing you are already better! Take it day by day and before you know it you will be back on the bike kicking ass again. Let me know when you're ready, maybe we can ride together for your inaugural ride and compare scars.

 

Yay!!!

 

Back issues..yikes.. heal well!!

 

Great to hear that it was a success. Hope you're back to 100% (or as close as possible) soon.

 

Perforated bowels are no joke - glad everything came out ok.

Glad the back and leg pain seems to have been cured too. Here's to a steady, healthy and measured recovery.

 

Thanks for all of the positive vibes everyone. Today is calendar day 15. I'm back to work in the office half days and working the rest of the days from home. I'm feeling really good right now which is awesome. I have my follow up apt tomorrow morning with my surgeon to set the stage for recovery.

The biggest issue right now is not dropping all of the bio-mechanics I've adopted post surgery now that I feel good. I am determined not to re-injur myself being impatient, bull headed or just plain stupid.

The long and slow road continues.

 

But at least now that long slow road in going forward.

 

All too right. It's such a relief having this huge stress load behind me and all of the outside influences done. Now the focus is on the work I put in to recover. Sort-of a master of my own destiny type of thing. Definitely feels good.

 

I had my post op appointment with my surgeon and it went well. He's as happy as I am with the results and progress. He cleared me for physical therapy two times a week. He also cleared me to get back on a stationary bike with reduced load. He said after a week of that and monitoring my progress I can discuss upping the effort on the trainer with the PT or I can email him.

I digress. It's definitely a bit of a bummer to watch opening weekend videos from whistler and snow summit. I had just stated to put together the Whistler bachelor party trip when this all started, so that's been shelved to next year. Just more motivation to come back stronger. In the meantime I'm back to bike maintenance. Much to the chagrin of my wife, as she has to do all of the lifting in and out of the bike stand.

I stripped and rebuilt the Kona Dew I got for the recovery period. The plan for this bike is to be a commuter and general run around. After some measuring and checking of the geometry... it turns out this bike has pretty decent gravel grinder and/or touring bike geo. With that in mind, I added a 3 x 10 setup based on xt shifters, slx derailleurs and deore cranks. I swapped out the mechanical disc brakes for shimano m447 hydro's. Eventually I'll build up a set of wheels so I can run tubeless 40c tires. I'm hoping to be able use this bike for commuting and riding on the road from my house to the top of blackstar/maple springs and back. I'll pull the fender and the rack and swap wheels and it should be light fire road worthy.

I also started to strip my trance down clean and service everything and get it ready for sale.

 

Nice Kona!

Down time is, sometimes, progress. Keep your head screwed on and you got this, Erik. Power on...

 

Little update. On this coming Tuesday it will be 4 weeks post op. I've been feeling pretty damn good to be honest. I started PT this last week and we're mainly working on mobility training at the moment, however we've started to dip into strength training. Overall my back feels good. A lot of the little daily pains I had before this injury seem to be gone but only time will tell.

It's definitely becoming more of a thing not riding now that I'm feeling better. It was pretty easy to justify not caring the first few weeks but now i'm getting the itch. I won't have any problem not riding through the recovery... I'm committed to the long term goals and plan, however it's stinging a bit now.

I'm hoping to be able to get back on the trainer in earnest within the next 2-3 weeks. The PT sees no reason why I can't be back on a road bike in August. I'm hoping that means getting back on dirt some time near 10/1. Whew, only 4 months to go!

 

Awesome to hear.

 

Easy does it, pal. Good work; thanks for the progress report.

 

Woo-Hoo! Progress!

 

Little update... no news is good news. Hammering physical therapy and mobility exercises. I'm now riding my commuter on the trainer for 30 minutes a day and mixing that in with another 90 minutes of stretching etc. Definitely feeling really good at this point. I had a slight setback last week with two days of rather intense pain, but I think that's a normal part of this process.

Regarding riding, and just overall condition. It's still very weak. I've been starting to introduce some higher cadence and increased resistance drills on the trainer in 30 second increments. I really have to control my pedal stroke carefully as bouncing on the saddle creates some discomfort. Overall it's a good reminder that even though I feel good on a day to day basis... there is a long way to go.

Progress, patience and perseverance is the name of this game, and I'm all in.